Sunset Sequence

yesterday gave us the last sunset before daylight savings time begins...6 weeks before the winter solstice

I went out in the wind to take these every 5-10 minutes, fascinated not only by the changes in the light, but also by how quickly the shapes of the clouds changed

tonight will be the new crescent moon...how amazing that we can predict all this with such certainty...

Morning Star

In the clouds, Venus in the eastern sky before sunrise yesterday, appearing higher every morning

from nightskyinfo.com:

"Venus appears dazzling in [the] dawn sky. The planet pokes above the horizon [before] the Sun rises, and is conspicuous in the east during twilight. Shining at magnitude -4.6, it is brighter than any other point of light in the sky, and it gets higher above the horizon every day. Through a telescope, Venus' disk appears 40" across and shows a 25-percent- lit phase.

Venus, the second of the inferior planets, is almost the same size as the Earth, and is the nearest body in the sky apart from the Moon. Until recently we knew practically nothing about the surface of Venus, and there were constant references to "the Planet of Mystery". Indeed, until the radar measures of the 1960s even the rate of rotation of the planet was not known.

It was then found that Venus turns on its axis once every 243 Earth-days, making the planet's day longer than its year! Even more surprising is the fact that the rotation is retrograde. In other words, Venus spins in the opposite direction to the majority of the planets in the solar system.
Link to source: [link to www.nightskyinfo.com] 

telephoto view (with tripod) - you can just barely see that it is not a full circle, but lighted by the sun from the side like a partial moon...

A Face Painting

this is a painting I finished just before Open Studio

OBSERVER           oil on canvas           16" x 20"

Desert Sightings

Finch with its strong beak for eating seeds

Thrasher with its long curved beak for digging and foraging

slim crescent moon this morning

November rose

Lizard on the Sun-Dappled Wall

poetry for the eye

and I have to suggest Steve Chandler's current post on iMindShift...he is so delightfully funny...and right on, in my book...

November Greening

the desert floor is acquiring a green tint following our October rains

tiny tender-looking blades of grass, barely an inch long, are appearing everywhere

and other tiny plants as well...

will we have winter wildflowers this year?

I love the storm clouds and the rain, and I also love our clear spotless-sky days

 

just before sunrise this morning

People Looking

Looking at all the wonderful photos of visitors to my Open Studio that were taken by my talented friend C, I noticed that I loved seeing people really looking at my work.  I of course spend a lot of time looking at it, while I am painting and afterwards, and it is good feedback to see people interested enough to take a good look.   Thank you to everyone who came and looked!

looking at TWENTY-NINE DOORWAYS

looking at DESERT DREAM, which eventually went with her to her home

DESERT DREAM     oil on canvas     16" x 20"